“It was a sad but necessary decision,” said Milczarski at a news conference on Monday, according to the local state news agency PAP. 3,000 people currently work at LOT.

The airline’s labour unions condemned the decision.

“It’s another form of bullying,” said Karol Sadowski, the lawyer representing the pilot and cabin crew unions currently taking part in the strike, adding that the decision to lay off workers was in his opinion illegal.

The company failed to provide adequate concessions to the striking workers, Sadowski said.

A spokesman for LOT said the layoffs were carried out legally.

LOT’s unions are taking collective action over working conditions in Poland, arguing against the imposition of self-employment contracts.

Meanwhile workers at Europe’s largest low-cost carrier Ryanair’s Polish unit are also protesting against changes to the way they are hired. (Reporting by Joanna Plucinska and Pawel Sobczak; Editing by Jan Harvey)